Talk of Marvel’s Black Panther has swept the nation – nay the world – this week.
Leading up to February 16th, the Ryan Coogler-directed spinoff began to establish itself as the must-see movie of the year – second only to Joe and Anthony Russo’s Avengers: Infinity War. Box office projections were quickly adjusted, too, and though Black Panther became shackled with a great deal of expectation, Marvel’s Afrocentric epic delivered the goods. And then some.
It’s arguably one of the most impressive MCU films to date (our review here), with a nuanced and, crucially, believable villain (Michael B. Jordan) set against the lush realm of Wakanda. And sure enough, Black Panther raked in a staggering $200m-plus across its four-day opening weekend in North America. In fact, the exact total now sits at $235 million on this side of the pond which, believe it or not, puts it ahead of Justice League‘s final domestic haul, which came in at $228 million.
Yes, that’s right, in just four days, Marvel’s latest effort, starring what was up until now a B, maybe even C-list comic book character, has already passed the total North American box office take of DC’s recent tentpole, which featured iconic heroes like Batman and Superman. Crazy, right?
Going one step further, and that $235 million also puts Black Panther in third place as far as all-time best four day openings go. It currently sits behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($288 million) and Star Wars: The Last Jedi ($241.5 million).
Of course, these are only but a few of the film’s many records and accomplishments, which it seems to be racking up at an alarming pace. And with the way things are going, you can readily expect Black Panther to have at least a couple more notches on its belt by week’s end.
Wakanda forever, indeed.
